Western Express

I'm currently a driver for Western Express,having been hired in November 2014(I hit my 1 year mark next month).
Let's just say driving for them has been a blessing and a curse. The blessing part is that they hired me when NO ONE ELSE WOULD(just about every trucking company is so worried about CSA scores nowadays that they're not willing to take a chance on a new driver with no experience fresh out of driving school with 1 speeding ticket on their record(at the time,I didn't have a CDL rating yet)). And sometimes the pay does leave a lot to be desired-when I started with them I was at $0.26 cents a mile,but I'm up to $0.41 a mile currently. They're FINALLY getting new van trailers in,along with new Volvo,Freightliner and "Intertrashional" tractors(with Direct TV being installed in them and they can't come quick enough-you know the trailer situation is bad when WalMart starts banning SMX (Smithway Motor Express) trailers from their distribution centers!lol At least 1/2 of the fleet of the van & flatbed trailers should've been retired and SCRAPPED a long time ago-and lately some of the Premier Lease and Stoughton Lease trailers that they're using are starting to pop up with issues(axle hub seals leaking/landing gear gearboxes seizing up due to water/rust corrosion),never mind the trailers off-tracking like crazy. The terminal locations I've been to (of which headquarters in Nashville is the nicest one IMO)are s#!+holes(I'm trying to use the term nicely-I'm based in Nazareth,Pennsylvania but I've been to terminals in Birmingham,Alabama and Emporia,Virginia,with the occasional holding yard in between). My dispatcher actually makes an effort to try to get me home within a reasonable time frame when necessary and she knows she can depend on me to push the load in on-time(sometimes early)if/when necessary(she actually wants me to be a trainer to help with the upcoming freight loads that'll be running between the West and East Coasts). All in all,working for them has been a learning experience. If you can survive working for them for a year,you can survive anything!LMAO

 

In addition,the company is running short of trainers. My dispatcher has been asking me to be a trainer since I was employed at Western for 3 months but I turn her down for a number of reasons!

 

As of this week,I've survived 1 YEAR(which in Western Express speak,puts me in the BAMF category!)LMAO

 

Driver would've probably had a better chance if they had bobtailed. Still...lol

 

That is so photo shopped. there is no way a trailer would buckle under a cheap ### over hang.

 

dude.. it's a Western Express trailer. need I say more?

 

^ Sad,but true. A lot of those Hyundai trailers in the fleet are 7-10 years old.

 

Talk about a Big Mac Attack!